‘Have You Forgotten Yet?’ Exhibition

In November, an exhibition to commemorate armistice and 100 years since the Battle of the Somme was clearly visible from the road and lit up at night with photographs displaying the faces of 40 of the 749 Old Marlburians whose deaths were caused by World War I.

An incredible World War I statistic that we hoped to bring to life with the window display in 'Have You Forgotten Yet?'The title of the show is taken from the poem 'Aftermath' by Siegfried Sassoon (CO 1902-04), an OM who survived the war, although his brother Hamo, featured in the window display, did not.

The distinctive window vinyls at the Mount House Gallery looked outstanding from outside when the building was illuminated, and from inside the gallery during the daytime. The patterned scheme was designed by glass artist Sasha Ward using photographs of the men taken before they left for The Front. We chose ‘heads on’ portraits – showing their direction of gaze, variety of ages, no hats, no obvious uniforms - laying them out on the computer screen and getting to know their faces, before we read their individual stories in the citations that accompany the photographs in the Rolls of Honour.

Inside the gallery, the face of every single man was projected with a short biography. While watching there would be an occasional blank space with no face or biography, only a lost soul, whom the College Archivist has not been able to research. These non-stories seemed the saddest of them all.

Many thanks must go to Sasha Ward for design, Clare Russell who provided a commentary on the history of the Memorial Hall, David Du Cruz for his advice and Ian Leonard for providing the photographs.